Clinton And Sanders (Almost) Victory Speeches

This blog was originally published on Forbes as Clinton And Sanders (Almost) Victory Speeches on Tuesday, February 2, 2016.

“Fake it til you make it!” is a phrase often attributed to recovering Alcoholics Anonymous, but it came roaring to mind last night watching the television networks broadcasts of the results of the Iowa Caucuses.

CNN, Fox, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, and CBS, with all of their high-powered, experienced political analysts and all of their highly-sophisticated, high tech polling technology agreed that the contest between Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders was too close to call—even with 95% of the votes tallied. This morning, with all the votes in, Mrs. Clinton has just four more votes than Mr. Sanders, but for all intents and purposes, the race is a virtual tie.

Nonetheless, last night, each of the candidates stepped up to the podiums in their headquarters where, surrounded by beaming family members and loudly cheering supporters, each proceeded to give a rousing stump speech as if the polls hadn’t closed yet.

Neither of them (wisely) claimed victory, but their enthusiastic rendition of their platforms, their commitment to their causes, and their absolute confidence in their campaigns sounded like victory speeches. Mrs. Clinton came close, saying, “I stand here tonight breathing a big sigh of relief. Thank you, Iowa.” Mr. Sanders would only say, “It looks like we’ll have about half of the Iowa delegates.” Neither victory nor concession.

The object lesson here is the same advice that Yogi Berra gave in 1973 when, as the manager of the New York Mets, his team was dawdling in last place. Mr. Berra said, “It ain’t over till it’s over. ”

On to New Hampshire…

This blog was originally published on Forbes as Clinton And Sanders (Almost) Victory Speeches on Tuesday, February 2, 2016.